Chapter Text
Percy was at home packing his things to head to camp half-blood for the summer, looking forward to seeing Annabeth and some of her designs for the new temples. Jason’s death was still a bit raw for everyone, but they were trying to honour him by finishing what he started, so this summer was mostly going to be him, Anna Beth and Leo switching between camps and helping with the builds.
Just as he was closing his bag, Paul called to him from the living room. Percy was immediately worried, Paul never sounded like that, like he was trying to be strong but was breaking down inside, like he felt dread and sorrow in equal measure. Something was wrong.
Percy walked out of his room, trepidation in each step and a hand on riptide, just in case. His instincts were going haywire, and he had no idea why, all Percy knew was that whatever was in that room was going to change his life forever.
Oh, how wrong he wished he was.
Sat on the couch with a somber look on his face was a police officer, he was middle aged with sandy blond hair, putting Percy on more on edge with how similar it was to Luke’s, but that was the most remarkable thing about him, everything else just screamed average, which looked very out of place in his eccentric and blue apartment.
Another thing that was out of place right then was Paul, who was on the chair adjacent to the officer and was slumped over with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands.
“Paul, what’s wrong? Who died?” Percy asked worry seeping into his voice, even as he tried to inject some humour into the situation.
Silence.
A moment passed and then another before the officer realised that Paul wasn’t going to answer and cleared his throat.
“I’m officer Mole, you must be mister Jackson.”
He said nothing, unsure how to respond to the statement
“I’m afraid I have some unwelcome news, you see there was an accident this afternoon involv-“
“Spit it out, I don’t do small talk.” The steel in his voice an unintended side effect of apprehension for what was to come.
“Your mother has passed away-”
Percy’s world shattered
“A drunk driver hit her as she was crossing the road and while ambulances were fast on rout, both Mrs Blofis and her unborn child died before they could arrive”
The monotone words washed over Percy’s unhearing ears, and he barely registered Paul (he’s a widow now, he never even got to meet his blood child- Estelle she was supposed to be called Estelle) correcting the officer that it’s Jackson-Blofis (that she still shared a last name with her son even with her new family)
The ringing in his ears was deafening and the storm in his mind swept everything else away-
Dead.
-his knees collided with the floor and Paul (his dad, the only mortal family he has left) moved closer to him, tears streaming down his face-
Dead.
- meaningless words of comfort from officer what’s-his-name-
Dead. Dead. Dead
-Paul asking -pleading- him to turn the water off-
Dead, she’s dead, my mom, my mother, my sister, they’re both dead. She was supposed to hug me bye before camp; Estelle was supposed to be spoiled rotten when she was born, we were supposed to have camping trips like mortal families do, they were supposed to live, why couldn’t they live-
Percy was brought back to reality by the wide chest in his face, arms around his back and voice in his ear telling his to breathe.
He sucked in a breath not even realising when he stopped consuming air and he slowly regained his senses.
Smell was first and he was surprised to find the room filled with the scent of seawater, which was a relief as it always seemed to comfort him.
The next was touch and he could feel muscular arms enclosing him in a vaguely familiar bear hug that was half for comfort and half to restrain him, as if it could stop the pieces of his soul from breaking apart, little did the arms know it was too late for that.
Finally, he pulled away from the form knelt in front of him (Hawaiian shirt??) to take in the sight around him. The room was a mess, coffee table and couch flipped and halfway across the space, carpet soaked, water pipes leaking and sticking out the wall and window broken letting in the storm outside (last he remembered it had been a perfectly sunny day -but nothing was perfect anymore, his mom was dead-)
“Percy”
It was then he realised the bodies in the room with him, the officer was gone -thank the gods- and Paul was looking at him nervously with red rimmed eyes. He was also completely drenched.
“Percy”
Percy looked at the voice that said his name only just understanding his father had come in at some point and the two of them were on the ground in the only dry area in the room. It was then that he remembered what had happened immediately before.
“My mom-” Percy sobbed, and his father cradled his head to his chest.
“I know, I know my son.” Poseidon soothed as Paul moved to join the hug.
He didn’t know what to do, so Percy did what Percy does best, and shoved his emotions into a a box deep within himself. Was it healthy? No. Did he care? Also no.
He moved out of his dads embraces and stood, a little wobbly but without falling so he was calling that a win, and started cleaning the room, drying the floors with a swipe of his hand.
The two fathers stared after their son worriedly, which was happening a lot lately. Percy found it absurd, it’s not like he just had a breakdown or anything, definitely not.
“Percy, maybe we should-” Paul started, but he didn’t want to hear the end of that sentence, not right now.
“Wow this place is a mess, we should probably find a way to cover that window before this place gets even more water damage.” He knows he’s deflecting but Percy just isn’t ready to deal with things yet.
Poseidon stood and without looking away from the hero of Olympus put everything back to its original state. Well, there went his distraction, the only option now was escape.
To camp he goes.